The present invention relates to optical communication systems, in general, and more particularly to a system and method of configuring fiber optic communication channels between arrays of emitters and detectors.
Greater demands for increased bandwidth are being made on data communication between electrical data processing units or subunits, like printed circuit (PC) boards, for example. Communication rates of tens of gigabits per second are exemplary of such demands. These demands can not be met by traditional metal electrical connections, like those found on mother boards and back plane connections, for example. One solution to meet these demands is to create optical communication channels for board-to-board communication using a light coupling bundle of optical fibers disposed between an array of light emitters on one PC board and an array of light detectors on another PC board. In this solution, there is a one-to-one relationship between the optical fibers in the bundle and the light emitters/detectors of the PC board arrays.
A drawback to this solution is that each optical fiber of the light coupling bundle must be precisely aligned with a corresponding light emitter/detector pair of the PC board arrays. This precise alignment is no simple task and generally requires additional equipment and man-hours to achieve. In addition, once the precise alignment is initially achieved, it may have to be repeated from time to time, due to misalignment due to such effects as shock, vibration, temperature changes and the like, for example. To alleviate these drawbacks to fiber optic communication, some designers have proposed creating optical communication channels by free-space inter-couplings. However, free-space optical communication channels have their own set of drawbacks and are generally used only when communication bandwidths greater than those afforded by optical fiber links are applicable.
The present invention overcomes the drawbacks of the light coupling bundle of optical fibers to provide a configuration of optical communication channels between arrays of light emitters and detectors without initial precise alignment and including a method for dynamic reconfiguration.